


Kinetodon

by Eevee_Miscellaneous



Category: The Reckoners - Brandon Sanderson
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23605372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eevee_Miscellaneous/pseuds/Eevee_Miscellaneous
Summary: Raine Dioncroft has been hidden from the world for the years. Unaware of everything that's been going on outside, or her past. Until she learns of an Epic named Kinetodon, who's said to be responsible for her mother's demise. She ventures out into the world of Epics, not knowing of the dangers of the Fractured States.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	1. ???

I remember home like a brief memory. Richmond was where I grew up and it’s been years since we’ve been there. Things have changed, of course. The world I knew was gone. All that’s left is memory. Memory of people I loved and places that brought me joy. I had no choice but to take my family here. Or at the very least, her. She was only a child when I brought her here. I couldn’t have her in a world where people like...them roamed. I had to hide her. To save her from those...monsters. She was the last thing that made me feel human. She was the only thing I had left to lose.


	2. Was that too much to ask for?

(Raine)

I laid there, fearing the worst. I looked towards the sun and the red star by it. I felt my eyelids becoming heavier. It was always cloudy when I looked through the window. It was strange; I’ve never seen a glimpse of the sky or the sun. It was nothing but clouds out there. There was nothing else I could do but fall asleep.

***

Sorry about that, I dozed off right there. I’m Raine. I’ve been in a unique situation. I’ve been living indoors my whole life and now I’m out. How it happened is actually a… ‘funny’ story. I’ve been living in my house ever since I could remember.  
Our house was said to be an old Victorian house. I never really got to see one so I’m not sure. All the rooms had fancy wallpaper and decor. The furniture looks as if it costed a fortune.  
The only person there was my dad, Haul. He was practically my teacher. From math to science to reading. He even played piano and taught me how to sing. Not to brag, but I wasn’t too bad when it came to things like that. He and I did everything that a parent and child could do. At least in a big house.  
He always was willing to teach me something new like cooking, or reading music. Whenever I was curious about a subject, he’d tell me as much as he could. He was better at them than me, but I think it because he had more experience. Every time I got hurt, he immediately came to help. There was one weird thing. I would feel the house shift in away. It always happened when I got hurt enough to make a loud cry. It might be my imagination, but still.  
He also told me to never go down into the basement. He said he had some important work down there and didn’t want me messing with it. That never made sense to me. He didn’t go anywhere and whatever’s down there has been there for years.  
Dad always told me that the outside wasn’t safe for me. He never explained to me why it wasn’t safe. I asked and he said that it’s best if I didn’t know. He also told me to never go down into the basement. I wanted to know.  
It happened on my 18th birthday. Dad was in the kitchen working on dinner all day. He told me to stay out for the surprise. I sat on my bed, looking out the window. The walls were a vivid pink, with magenta floral patterns, the shelves were filled with nothing but books. My bed had thick blankets and a large pillow.  
Dad said that it was Mom’s idea to design it this way. All the things I knew about her were from pictures and how Dad described her. Her name was Selene. She was amazing from what I’ve seen and heard. Her shining eyes made mine look dull. My dad once told me that when he first saw her, she looked like a Broadway actress. The only thing remotely bad with her was that she always wore her hair in a messy bun. Even then she looked gorgeous.  
She was a college student when she was alive. She was studying to become an engineer. Dad never talked about what happened. Whenever we got close to that subject, he immediately changed the topic.  
My windows were tinted. They were sealed. Dad said that’s how it was when he bought the house. But it didn’t seem right to me. It’s like someone tried using rubber cement for this. It wasn’t the cleanest job, that I can tell you.  
For the last few months, I’ve been trying to pry it open. I may have broken a few files because of it. I had to be careful because I didn’t want him to find out about it. I’d hate to think about what would happen then.  
It was done! I gently open, to make sure he wouldn’t hear. I look out to see more of the world. Nothing.  
There was nothing but grey clouds. I looked to see the ground. It was nowhere in sight. I couldn’t believe my own eyes. It’s as if we were in a dark grey abyss. I shivered. I didn’t like it. Maybe it was a horrible fog, that sounded reasonable. But a part of me didn’t believe it. I scavenged or a piece of trash to use. An empty can of soda do it. If there was ground then it made a sound. I went to the window and dropped it. It fell, but I didn’t hear it hit.

“Raine, are you up there. It’s time to get ready for dinner.” Dad called. I jumped at his voice. I didn’t expect to hear that! I nearly fell out of the window. I quickly closed it and hurried down the stairs.  
It was a little weird when it came to me and Dad. Dad was tall and built, had jet black hair, and almost glowing green eyes.  
It was strange. If you saw us next to each other, you couldn’t tell we were even remotely related. I looked more like an average person. At least, I think I look normal.  
Instead of jet black, I had gingery brown. Instead of tall and built, I was small and petite. He said I got it all from Mom, but I had a hard time believing. The only way to connect us was our eyes.  
“Sorry, I just got done reading a new chapter in my book.” I lied.  
“Well then tell me all about it over dinner. I made your favorite.” He grinned.  
“I don’t expect a thank you. I worked all day on it.”  
***  
I started to drool at the sight of it. It was a delicious soup. It had bacon, sausage, kale, and potatoes. The side dishes made me drool more. There were cheesy biscuits that were drizzled in garlic butter and golden onion rings. It was so good it smelled something from a five-star restaurant. I think.  
“Go on, we don’t need drool on the carpet.” I stopped gawking and started eating. It tasted better than I thought.  
I stopped after a bit. Thinking about the window.  
“Dad, I need to talk to you about something,” I started.  
“What is it,” he asked cheerfully. I tried to put my thoughts into words.  
“Well, the thing is that-. I’ve been wondering about the outside.” He looked at me strangely.  
“What about it.” he sounded suspicious. I had a strange feeling when he stared at me.  
“You’ve never told me why I can’t go out. And how I can't even go into the basement. Can you-”  
“No,” he stopped me.  
“What,”  
“You shouldn’t know. It’s for the best. For your own good.” he said, looking down at his water.  
“Why,” I was getting annoyed. This was injustice at best. He never explains it beyond ‘it’s best to not know’.  
“The people out there are practically driven insane by the mere idea of it all. I don’t want anything like that happening to you.” This pestered me. That’s when I snapped.  
“You haven’t even seen outside in years either. How do you know for certain? That it’s like how you say it is.” I retorted.  
“I’ve seen it before and I know for a fact that it won’t change,” he explained.  
“What’s so horrible out there that I can’t handle thinking about it.” I felt a fire in my chest.  
“No one outside is safe. It’s too dangerous.” He was still being vague. As if he was trying to find an excuse to b-.  
“Is it really dangerous for me! Or is it just too scary for you.” I yelled. That had to be it. He was afraid. Afraid enough to hide away from it.  
“Raine, I’m not talking about this with you.”  
“No! Tell me, are you really that afraid to tell me!” That when he snapped.  
“ENOUGH! You don’t need to know because you’re not leaving. AND THAT’S FINAL!” He shouted, pounding his fist on the table.  
This made my soup bounce and burn my hand. The pain was searing. I was going to have a burn mark. That when the strangest thing happened. I thought I felt the house rock. No. I knew the house rocked. Everything was shaking now. I felt the floor tremble as I held the burn. The pain soon eased.  
“What was that,” I asked. He looked a little nervous. He didn’t say a word while walking out of the room.  
***  
I sat in my bed for an hour or two. Looking at the small burn. It was bright red. I felt my heart pound in my hand. I looked out the window and sighed. I gazed into the dark clouds outside. Why did he become so frustrated when I just wanted to talk about it.  
I know I shouldn’t have said that horrible thing. About him being a coward. I know it was uncalled for. I just wanted to know the reason. I wanted to know more than anything. I wanted him to just tell me. Was that too much to ask for?  
I looked closer out into the distance. I noticed a bright red star out there. I haven’t seen actual stars in a long time. I only saw some in books. It was blazing. It was the only light out there. I remember a silly rhyme. The Star Light, Star Bright rhyme. Dad said Mom always did it as a child, so she can hope for a better day tomorrow. I started to wonder. What if I tried it. I held my hands as if to pray.  
“Starlight, star bright,  
The first star I see tonight;  
I wish I may, I wish I might,  
Have the wish I wish tonight.” Nothing happened. My head hung low. Things won’t change. They’ll always be the same. It would be a miracle if they did, though.  
Kluck! I practically jumped out of my skin. What was he doing down there? I crept out of my room and down the stairs. Only to see him hit his head on the table and next to him as a huge bottle of Vodka. It wasn’t hard to see what was going on.  
“DAD!” I exclaimed.  
He raised his head and said, “Morning, Raine.” I looked at him strangely.  
“It’s night,” I responded. He looked at me funny.  
“Sorry ‘bout that.” he responded tipsily “I thought you were in bed. I guess I got carried again.”  
“Again. Since when were you an alcoholic.” I asked. He told me when I was 11 that people who drank alcohol often kept doing it and often died because of it. And as far as I know, I’ve never seen him drink a drop of it.  
“I meant you shouldn’t overdo drinking.” I rolled my eyes.  
“I only do it on your birthday when you’re out cold. Or when I think you’re out,” he grumbled.  
“Why on my birthday?” I ask.  
“Her,” I looked at him again.  
“Your mother’s death. It’s the anniversary of that” He sounded more depressed now. He never told me that she died on my birthday. I didn’t know what to do or say.  
“Is there anything I can do,” I asked. He grumbled.  
“Help me get to bed. Hic! And bring a can.” He looked like he was about to retch. I tried as fast I could to get him to the sink. It wasn’t pretty. So much for the soup.  
***  
I carried him to his room. He kept talking the whole way to his bed. “You know, I wonder what’d happen if the incident never happened. Maybe you were right. About the whole coward thing. Maybe if mom was here we wouldn’t be tucked away from the world to see.” He kept swaying back and forth. It wasn’t making it easy to carry a drunk man.  
“Here you go,” I said, laying him in bed.  
“Can you imagine what would've happened if he never showed up!” he exclaimed. I froze.  
“Who’s he?” I asked.  
“Kinetodon,” I looked confused. Who the heck was that?  
“Can you tell me more.” he gave a look like I asked something that had an obvious answer.  
“He’s the one who helped us,” He said smugly.  
“Helped us what,” I still had no clue what he was talking about.  
He sighed. “Kinetodon took our house and hid it. He did because of your mom!” I looked at him strangely.  
“Mom? Why?” This was starting to get interesting.  
“He said he’d help us and he didn’t save her. He let her die.” he sounded like he would've cried. I shuddered at that sentence. Someone let my mother die.  
“He was an idol to you. I came home one day, and the first thing you told me was you wanted to be like him. On how amazing and cool he was. After what happened, we never saw that b-”  
“I get the idea” I stopped him.  
“Selene loved talking about him in her diary.”  
Diary? My mom wrote in a diary.  
“She wrote everything down. Enough to put in a museum.” He retorted. I leaned in closer.  
“How do you know?” I asked.  
“I read every time I think about her. I keep it in the nightstand downstairs,” He told me.  
I’ve never felt so happy because someone got drunk. Granted, this was the first time I actually talked to a drunk person, but you know what I mean.  
“Dad, shouldn’t you go to sleep.”  
He pouted at me. “Fine.” He pulled the covers over him and dozed off.  
I waited until I was sure he was asleep. I quietly went down the stairs. There was only one nightstand downstairs. It was the one in the living room.  
I walked over to the stand to examine it. There weren't any hidden compartments from what I could see. I sighed. Maybe my dad just talked a lot of hooey. That’s when I realized, he had to hide a diary from a little kid. Any kid would mess with the outside of the stand. But not the inside.  
I opened the drawer. There were only cough drops, and pencils in there. I examined the outer bottom of the drawer. I found a hole. It looked like it was drilled into. I took a pencil and put it in. That lifted the fake bottom up to reveal a comb-bound notebook. It had the title “Property of Selene Dioncroft,”.  
I took the book as carefully as I could, in case he set some kind of alarm. I got up and started to walk.  
I passed the door that led into the basement. I felt nervous. What was he hiding down there? I reached out and twisted the knob. It was locked. Drat.  
I went to my room to read it. I had strange suspicions about the basement. I felt my heart pound. I opened to what seemed to be the last entry. The day before my birthday.

June 3rd, 

Dear Journal,  
As I said in previous entries, I’ve been befriended by Kinetodon. Many people here still believe he's the guardian of Richmond. Much like those heroes you’d see from comics. The one Epic that doesn’t use his powers for selfish reasons. I find it hard to believe. It’s generally hard to find a person who wouldn’t abuse power. I feel deep down he is being selfish. Maybe he’s using the power to have a bigger name and attention. I can’t say for sure.  
The only thing he’s done for the time he became known was killing Epics in the city. Epics that didn’t cause a crime yet but still had the power to. Some probably weren’t even Epics, to begin with and just fooled around. Something doesn’t seem right with this. It seems more like he’s protecting territory if anything.  
I can’t stop worrying now. A part of me doesn’t believe in his words, a part of me fears what he could do, but a small part wants to trust. He’s saved me in the past, but never tells me why he’s more worried about me than the rest of the people. He may have raised the death toll a bit by ‘helping’ the citizens. I think he needs me for something.  
Raine certainly has taken a liking towards him. Ever since he saved her class, she started wanting to be a superhero. He came over a few times and played with her.  
I’m more worried about Raine. With the world we’re in, I don’t think she’ll make it. She turns 6 tomorrow and I’m scared. Scared if she dies tomorrow or the next day. It’s gotten worse throughout the country and I don’t see it stopping anytime soon. I don’t think my husband understands why I’m nervous when he leaves for work. Any moment an Epic could kill him and I wouldn’t be able to stop it. Haul’s always on errands and at work. It terrifies me every day. I wish it would stop.  
There’s a question in my head. Kinetodon visited a few days before and talked to me. He told me that he can save our family. If I agree, he will bring me and Raine to a secluded location, but with a small catch. Haul, my dedicated husband, wouldn’t come with us. Or at least, he wouldn’t be the same man we knew. I’m scared because I don’t want to make the wrong decision. I don’t want to lose either of them.  
We’re going to a hotel tomorrow. Omni Hotels & Resorts to be exact. I hope things will be fine.  
Sincerely,  
Selene Dioncroft  
I shuddered. Why was this Kinetodon after my mother? Why did he want to hide us? I remembered how when I dropped the can, it didn’t hit the ground. What if it did hit the ground, but it was too far away to hear. I went to my closet and started pulling out clothes. What I’m about to do is crazy. And there would be no turning back.  
I grabbed any clothes that would fit in my bag. All I grabbed were plain shirts, pants, and sweaters. I put on a knitted raspberry sweater with a blackberry trim. I need to make sure I have enough necessities. I brought a bottle, a first aid kit, a few Ziploc bags, and a pocket knife. I went downstairs to the kitchen. I grabbed any food that I would be able to have on the way. I nabbed some boots before heading back up.  
I pulled my old bed sheet and a pair of scissors. I started cutting thick strips of fabric and tied them together. Making a long rope. I look around for something sturdy. I looked at my closet close to the window. Perfect. I tied the rope on the knob. I double-checked to see if it was tight. It was secure.  
I put everything in an old backpack. Climbing out the window. I stood on the windowsill. I felt sweat trickle down my face. I breathed in and jumped.  
I held the rope tightly. I held on as if for dear life. Oh, who am I kidding, I was holding onto dear life. I looked up to see the bottom of the house. It was floating! I slowly climbed down. It wasn’t easy with all the fog. I kept going. There was a strong breeze. It was humid. I climbed farther down. It was still foggy when I got to the end of my rope. The only thing I saw out there was the red star.  
I felt myself being to despair. Was this the world now? Nothing but clouds and a star.  
That when I started to see something. It looked like a skyscraper. It looked like there was a glowing streak of light bolting across the ground. I looked up to see that I was coming closer to the building.  
I felt my heart race. I had to do something or I’m dead. I can’t go up in time, and down wasn’t exactly an option. I looked quickly at the skyscraper, and I found a way out. I was coming towards a window. The window below was broken. I waited for the right moment to jump. I was ready for that leap of faith.  
I leaped and grabbed onto the ledge. Let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. I held on the ledge, hoping the sweat on my hands wouldn’t cause me to fall.  
I had to take every step carefully; one false step is all it would take. I slowly lowered myself down to the window below. After making sure my feet were on the sill, I started pulling myself in.  
I winced on my way in. I got a few cuts on the window glass. I should stick with open windows rather than broken ones. I looked around. It looked like a bedroom room. Or the remains. A part of the ceiling fell through the floor, the walls were covered in dust and peeled paint, and everything else was either cracked or demolished. What happened here

**Author's Note:**

> A Reckoner fic I made years ago I'm revising. I have the entire first act done so that's gonna be out soon! Kudos to https://www.fanfiction.net/u/2288124/Notary-Sojac for Beta reading!


End file.
